Question Where can i find an actual CPU stress tool?

[TheFlash1300]

I tried many CPU stress tools, but none of them worked as I wanted. None of them were able to load the CPU above 95% or even at 100%, and they were not able to heat the CPU at least above 60 degrees celsium.

I want a stress tool that will load the CPU to its maximum and will heat it. Heating is needed, so I can see how powerful the fan can be.

I really tried to find such a tool, but I failed. Can someone help me and tell me what tool I should use in order to achieve my goal?

 

[punkncat]

Prime 95 should do the trick. Lol, be careful.

 

[TheFlash1300]

Prime 95 should do the trick. Lol, be careful.

Prime95 makes it to 68-74%.

 

[mdd1963]

Prime95/small FFTs (AVX/AVX2 disabled) is a 100% load on all cores, and, is also the defacto standard for testing CPU stability and cooler effectiveness, and, unless you've been tinkering in settings with apps to prevent/cause high loadings....you should see 100% usage on all cores when viewing HWMonitor...

(To be clear, you are referring to CPU loading, correct? Or are you trying to refer to assorted core temps, typically in the 60's-70's C range? )

 

[Karadjgne]

Prime95 AVX tech disabled Small fft (not smallest) is 100% load on cpu. Uses extremely little ram, and no variables like blender or any of the LinPack users like OCCT or Aida64.

But that's for testing temps. Not for testing stability. Stability is not dependent on temps, an unstable pc is unstable at 50°C or 100°C or anywhere in between. That's the purpose of OCCT, Aida64, Real Bench or Cinebench, to introduce variables in an attempt to trip up the cpu.

There's more than 1 way to stress a cpu. First figure out what you are testing for, stability, temps, power use, max brutal temp etc, then use appropriate software to do the job. Using anything with AVX, AVX2 or especially AVX-512 is guaranteed to be higher than a 100% workload power use, closer to 130%±, so temps will be appropriate for that level.

But since there's only 1 game I can think of (Skyrim with a specific Mod) that actually uses AVX2 for anything more than the occasional spike use, it's a moot test.

 

[Deleted member 362816]

OCBASE/OCCT : Free, all-in-one stability, stress test, benchmark and monitoring tool for your PC

Ocbase is the home of OCCT, the most popular all-in-one stability / stress testing / benchmarking / monitoring tool available for PC

www.ocbase.com

 

[TerryLaze]

But since there's only 1 game I can think of (Skyrim with a specific Mod) that actually uses AVX2 for anything more than the occasional spike use, it's a moot test.

Hey, which mod is that, don't let a brother hanging like that.

 

[Karadjgne]

It's Faster HDT-SMP. Uses different levels of AVX/AVX2 depending on what the pc can handle for the physics, you pick the level. I know it had those 2 as options, as well as a non-AVX option, but don't remember if AVX-512 was also a level option.

I tried it out but I'm not so much a mod tweaker, so I found it problematic with some hair, or maybe it was just my combinations, my Orc followers ankle length dreds had a wierd tick making them bounce funny.

 

[hotaru.hino]

The fact that OP is seeing <70% CPU utilization on a test that should drive the CPU utilization to 100% tells me there's an issue with the system.

Keep in mind that CPU % Utilization only means how often the CPU was running the "System Idle Task." If the CPU was allowed to run it more often than not on a CPU bound workload, something isn't right. Though it would be helpful to run other CPU bound workloads (AIDA64, Cinebench, Handbrake encoding x265 or something) to see if this behavior is consistent across workloads.

 

[TheFlash1300]

I want to find a way to stress my CPU to its maximum, where the load is 100% and the fan works with full power. I was told that Prime95 is the best software for that purpose, but it didn't work. Prime95 makes 50-60% CPU usage, and nothing more.

Here is what I do with Prime95.

1. I open prime95.exe
2. I click on "Options".
3. I click on "Torture test".
4. I select "Smallest FFts )tests L1/L2 caches, high power/heat/CPUstress)
5. I click "OK"

However, the load stays at 50-60%, and not 100%.
I tried other options like "Blend (all of the above, bug, again, but it didn't work.

I need a program that actually works. Can someone help me?

 

[Colif]

this might help

Prime 95 how to Guide: http://www.playtool.com/pages/prime95/prime95.html

stop making so many threads

 

[TheFlash1300]

Prime95/small FFTs (AVX/AVX2 disabled) is a 100% load on all cores, and, is also the defacto standard for testing CPU stability and cooler effectiveness, and, unless you've been tinkering in settings with apps to prevent/cause high loadings....you should see 100% usage on all cores when viewing HWMonitor...

(To be clear, you are referring to CPU loading, correct? Or are you trying to refer to assorted core temps, typically in the 60's-70's C range? )

This option appears unavailable to me. When I open Prime95, i have the following options:

Smallest FFTs (tests L1/L2 caches, high power/heat/CPU stress)
Small FFTs (tests L1/L2/L3 caches, maximum power/heat/CPU/ stress)
Medium FFTs (tests L1/L2/L3/L4 caches)
Large FFTs (stresses memory controller and RAM)
Blend (all of the above)
Custom

The options marked in red are unavailable, and the first red option is the option you recommend me to use.

In the "Run a Weaker Torture Test (not recommended)" section, I have the following options:

Disable AVX-512
Disable AVX
Disable AVX2 (fused multiply-add)

The first two options are unavailable, however, the first one has a checkmark. The third option is available, but it doesn't have checkmark.

Also, hyperthreading is unavailable, too.

There's more than 1 way to stress a cpu. First figure out what you are testing for, stability, temps, power use, max brutal temp etc, then use appropriate software to do the job.

I want the CPU to be loaded to 100% (stressed) and during that time, the fan to work with full power, while testing for stability is running. I want to overload the CPU, so I can see if it produces any errors.

The fact that OP is seeing <70% CPU utilization on a test that should drive the CPU utilization to 100% tells me there's an issue with the system.

I ran some benchmark programs, like the Pass Mark, and they said there are no problems with the system and the hardware.

this might help

Prime 95 how to Guide: http://www.playtool.com/pages/prime95/prime95.html

stop making so many threads

It didn't help. Some of the options the tutorial says I need to use, are unavailable in my case.

 

[drivinfast247]

As said above run small FFT with AVX disabled. What are you using to monitor CPU usage and temperature?

 

[TheFlash1300]

As said above run small FFT with AVX disabled. What are you using to monitor CPU usage and temperature?

"Small FFTs" is unavailable, only "Smallest FFTs" is available.

Here I have uploaded a screenshot, so you can see what options are available and understand me better:

https://imgur.com/a/3pslnxy

View: https://imgur.com/a/3pslnxy

(NOTE: I uploaded the image to another host, because this forum doesn't have an image uploading option)

Also, when I start Prime95, and it starts using 60-70% of the CPU, Windows 10 is very good at regulating it. When I start using another application, Windows reduces Prime95's CPU usage, and the percentages are given to the other program.

I also tried to use a .vbs file containing:

"While True
Wend"

But this didn't work either - Windows was able to regulate and reduce the CPU percentage use.

"What are you using to monitor CPU usage and temperature?"

Windows Task Manager and Speccy.

 

[Colif]

@TheFlash1300 can you do us a favour, can you put details of your PC into your sig so we at least know what PC you have. It would sure help
https://forums.tomshardware.com/account/signature

 

[uWebb429]

Windows Task Manager

The first two tabs in Task Manager, Processes and Performance, do not report CPU usage. They report CPU Utilization. Only the Task Manager Details tab reports CPU usage.

When you have an Intel CPU that uses turbo boost to reach maximum speed, the first two Task Manager tabs can be misleading. Most users assume the graphs show CPU usage when they do not.

Use a proper monitoring tool like HWiNFO.

It looks like you have a very old CPU. That is probably why some of the tests in Prime95 are not available.

 

[Colif]

The first two tabs in Task Manager, Processes and Performance, do not report CPU usage. They report CPU Utilization. Only the Task Manager Details tab reports CPU usage.

over all Task manager isn't very accurate with memory usage either.

better to use HWINFO or Process explorer

Age of CPU was why I asked the op to add PC details to specs as we don't know what he has otherwise.

 

[hotaru.hino]

over all Task manager isn't very accurate with memory usage either.

It isn't that it's not accurate, it's that it reports two different things under basically the same name.

 

[Colif]

The first two tabs in Task Manager, Processes and Performance, do not report CPU usage. They report CPU Utilization. Only the Task Manager Details tab reports CPU usage.

Task manager has no idea how fast my CPU is. Its been wrong for 2 years. So even that isn't a good indication, beyond maybe the charts.

It isn't that it's not accurate, it's that it reports two different things under basically the same name.

When you view memory information in Windows Task Manager, the values that are displayed for reserved hardware and for speed may differ from what is reported in other sources. For example, Task Manager may show the memory speed to be higher or lower than the speed that is reported in the BIOS.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/tr...ce/task-manager-display-incorrect-memory-info
that wasn't what I meant but its an example.

Task manager dumbed down version of Process Explorer. Soon Win 11 version color scheme in task manager will match your themes accent colors


its not really related to question at hand though

 

[SkyNetRising]

Here I have uploaded a screenshot, so you can see what options are available and understand me better:

https://imgur.com/a/3pslnxy

View: https://imgur.com/a/3pslnxy

If you're using cpu mentioned in your other topic - Intel i5 - 3470,
then it has 4 cores (not 2).
If you're stressing only 2 cores of 4, then obviously it's impossible to get 100% load on cpu.

 

[hotaru.hino]

Task manager has no idea how fast my CPU is. Its been wrong for 2 years. So even that isn't a good indication, beyond maybe the charts.



https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/tr...ce/task-manager-display-incorrect-memory-info
that wasn't what I meant but its an example.

Task manager dumbed down version of Process Explorer. Soon Win 11 version color scheme in task manager will match your themes accent colors


its not really related to question at hand though

Honestly I think Task Manager also has too much expectations pinned on it given its name. I'd say it's more useful for a first step in seeing if something is up and if you need to investigate deeper, there are other system tools for that.

 

[Colif]

Honestly I think Task Manager also has too much expectations pinned on it given its name. I'd say it's more useful for a first step in seeing if something is up and if you need to investigate deeper, there are other system tools for that.

its a hard crutch to give up, perhaps I should set the option in Process explorer to let it replace Task manager... think I wait for next version update of windows before i do that though.

 

[TerryLaze]

You have to go into bios and make sure that the fan is either running on a curve or is on max, if it is on a pre fixed setting like silent or medium it will not provide enough cooling for the CPU to run 100%

You also have to go to windows power settings (choose/edit power plan) and put it on high performance setting, make sure that processor power management- maximum processor state- is set to 100%

If it's a laptop it might still not go up to 100%

 

[TheFlash1300]

@TheFlash1300 can you do us a favour, can you put details of your PC into your sig so we at least know what PC you have. It would sure help
https://forums.tomshardware.com/account/signature

This is the laptop: Acer Aspire A315-22
This is the CPU i want to stress: AMD A4-9120e RADEON R3, 4 COMPUTE CORES 2C+2G

The CPU has 2 cores.

It looks like you have a very old CPU. That is probably why some of the tests in Prime95 are not available.

The CPU is relatively new, but it's not very popular. The CPU is AMD A4-9120e

If you're using cpu mentioned in your other topic - Intel i5 - 3470,
then it has 4 cores (not 2).
If you're stressing only 2 cores of 4, then obviously it's impossible to get 100% load on cpu.

The CPU I want to stress has 2 cores. The CPU is AMD A4-9120e

You have to go into bios and make sure that the fan is either running on a curve or is on max, if it is on a pre fixed setting like silent or medium it will not provide enough cooling for the CPU to run 100%

You also have to go to windows power settings (choose/edit power plan) and put it on high performance setting, make sure that processor power management- maximum processor state- is set to 100%

If it's a laptop it might still not go up to 100%

I think it is in pre-fixed settings. However, I know 100% CPU usage is possible, because the laptop has already used 100% of the CPU. When I open multiple programs or use heavy tasks, the CPU can go to 100%.

 

[TheFlash1300]

I'm trying various stress test tools to test the stability of my CPU. None of the stress test tools i able to rise the CPU temperature to 65 degrees or more, making the fan work with full strength. During stress tests, the CPU usage is between 50-75%, and the temperature is between 54-55 degrees.

Is this normal? During the stress test, shouldn't the CPU become very hot and the usage to be at 100%?